So, we reached 100 in the #100daysofbooks project! Thankyou to everyone who followed along and made suggestions on what we should read. Some of the books I wasn't able to source in time, but I have on my list to find and read anyway.
And having reached the end, as pledged, we have today made a $250 donation to the Indigenous Literary Foundation. Thankyou to everyone who's bought one of my books for making this possible.

In the final wrap up of the project, I'll say that I enjoyed it, even though sometimes it was a challenge to both read the book and put up a post each day! It's given me a new appreciation for the breadth of children's picture books, and made us regulars at the local library (never a bad thing!). The one sad thing that stood out to me was how gender skewed the books seemed to be. Now, we only read 100, but I did a break down and:

Nearly half the books (47) were overtly about a male character, while

Only 11 were about an overtly female character. In addition,

Another 12 the characters were a mix of male and female, and

In 30, the gender of the characters was not clear.

It's a bit disappointing to me, especially as some of the books also perpetuated gender stereotypes and "traditional" roles. I believe very strongly that stories are a huge part of how we make sense of the world. For women to achieve true equality (and no, we are NOT there yet) we need both men and women to see stories that represent the proportions of us, and the multitude of roles we play. With a few exceptions, I have this slightly sinking feeling that picture books aren't doing that for children. And if they're not, then I really want to ask why not. Anyway, food for thought.

Day 100. So, I saved John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat for last because if someone had asked me to name a picture book from my childhood, this is the one I'd have said. It's the story of an old woman (Rose) and her protective dog (John Brown). I have a curious sense of nostalgia about the story, mixed with the same sadness it gave me as a child - Rose seems very lonely, even with her companions, and the illustrations convey that in their muted colours and careful attention to the olde-worlde details of her house. Even when the Midnight Cat comes into the picture, the story still feels melancholic - the sense this is a temporary reprieve only. I have those same impressions now, but I guess I have a slightly healthier relationship with change these days. Even so, I find it's a story I only want to consume sparingly, as carefully as it's been constructed.

Master A's verdict: Patiently looked at the pictures through the whole reading.

Details:

Title: John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

Author/Illustrator: Jenny Wagner / Ron Brooks

Source: In home library

Publisher: Puffin

That's the end of our #100daysofbooks project! The next post will talk about a few insights about these books (unexpected) and our donation to the Indigenous Literacy Project. :)

Day 99. Penguin and Pinecone is one of many stories in the Penguin series, and this one is about a friendship with a lost pinecone. Penguin eventually returns the pinecone to the forest, but the friendship has a lasting effect. This is one of those stories that's a direct analogy for broader ideas ... that everyone has a right environment in which to flourish, that souls very different to one another can still have commonality and friendship, and probably a bunch of other things I haven't considered. It's a sweet story when viewed that way, with simple, appealing illustrations and prose text. I would look for others in the series.

Master A's verdict: Thought the pictures were good enough to eat. Yes, we're still on this.

Day 98. The 21st Century Guide to the Birds and the Bees is exactly that. I remember as a child having something called The Body Book that tried to teach about how the body worked, including reproduction. But these days, a book like that is lagging behind the times. This book covers IVF, IUI, and surrogacy using proper terms and delightful pictures. I met the authors of this book at a library event and they are really passionate about these issues, and it's reflected in the high quality production of the book. Regardless of whether or not you have a child conceived in these ways, these days they're still bound to have friends who were, so it's a good one to have when needed.

Master A's verdict: Too young yet for the information, but particularly enjoyed the pictures.

Day 97. Five Stinky Socks is a rhyming story about exactly that. One after another, the character (who has five legs because ... no idea) finds stinky socks for his feet. It's short, energetic and fun. Enough said.

Master A's verdict: Enjoyed the rhymes. Just short enough to engage before wanting to eat it.

Day 96. I'm all for introducing kids to the wonders of the natural world, I'm just not sure this is the book to do it. Newtonian Physics for Babies introduces Newton's three laws, but there's a couple of tests that I thought it should have passed. Firstly, I thought that we (adults, and both mechanical engineers) should have had no trouble understanding it. But I actually found it confusing to follow, and that gives me alarm bells. The pictures are really basic, too, and I'm not sure it would engage many children - it doesn't seem geared for them at all - there's no narrative, rhythm, rhyme, or characters, just statements. Production quality is also a bit low. Now, having said all of that, it has a bunch of high reviews on Amazon, so maybe it is working for some people out there. I don't think our household will be one of them, but I would be curious to look at the other two volumes in the series (Optical Physics and Quantum Physics).

Day 95. Racing Ruby is one of the Little Mates series that all seem to be alliterating stories with Australian animals. This one is naturally crammed full of R words, and set under the sea with a racing rainbow fish, it has a frenetic pace and engaging illustrations. There's good words, too - like ricochet and rankle. I give it lots of credit for creativity, and would love to read it again.

Master A's verdict: Good length for attention span.

Details:

Title: Racing Ruby

Author/Illustrator: Susannah McFarlane / Lachlan Creagh

Source: Borrowed from local library

Publisher: Scholastic

What's on tomorrow? Not sure ... it's a public holiday and we're out of library books :/.

Day 94. I try to find something positive in each of these books, but for a bunch of reasons this one just got up my nose. Annie's Feet Can... is just ... odd. It's very simple text (all the things Annie's feet can do - like jumping, splashing, and so on), and that part isn't really an issue, I guess. But the illustrations are just ... weird. The Annie character is like an anthropomorphised cloud with strange watercolour blobs on the side of her head (ears?) and is done in pink (because she's a girl, which bothered me more because an accompanying volume is about Oscar, and he's blue. Let's reinforce those gender colours. Again.) There's two "touchy feely" pages (one so subtle you miss it), and another "pop-up" page, which was sadly broken in our library copy. The mix of elements was confusing, and the cover listed an illustrator, but not an author. Again ... odd. The story left me feeling perplexed and a little cross. I'm hoping it's not the sort of thing Master A wants to read over and over.

Master A's verdict: More interested in an HG Wells novel sitting on the couch end. Not a good sign.

Day 93. One Funky Monkey is set in a toy store after dark, but it's basically a counting book. In that need to rhyme as we count up (one funky monkey, two happening hippos, etc), there are some pretty horrible rhymes (the worst one in our opinion is pictured). But it's kind of in that so ridiculous it's funny category, so all is forgiven. If I had to choose between this and many other quite ho-hum counting offerings, this one would get the nod.

Day 92. I have to be honest - I saw a lot of euphemisms in Lucky Tucker. I have no idea if it's intentional (probably not) but from the title, to some of the illustrations, there were moments of hilarity for me. I started wondering if it was a secret stash of humour for adults (a bit like The Simpsons always had), especially as it's a story with an Irish flavour. Basically, Tucker has a bad luck day, then rolls in some four-leaf clover and his fortunes change, and from then on it's icecream and frivolity. This was a fun read for me, and illustrations are simple and bright. It's not a glorious pinnacle of the genre, but we've read many a less enjoyable tale than this.

Day 91. As a child, I remember reading Town Mouse, Country Mouse, and Town Possum, Outback Possum re-imagines that classic tale but with a very Australian setting. The text rhymes and creates a clear distinction between the two settings, and the illustrations do the same - big and colourful in the city, muted and relaxed in the country. The two characters are cute, and the story is familiar. I enjoyed rediscovering it with animals I see walking the fence every night. Seems appropriate.

Day 90. Checkers and Dot on the Farmappears to be one of a number of Checkers and Dot books, all of which feature high contrast (black and white) illustrations (which are supposed to be engaging for babies). The text is rhyming with animal noises (as might be expected on a farm). The illustrations are the most striking part of this - as an adult I find it kind of boring to look at, especially as the figures are so simple (contrast with The House in the Night earlier in our series which has very detailed illustrations), but kids may see it differently.

Day 89. Between the Pages reminded me a little of The Neverending Story in the sense of that book about the book itself (there's no horses dying in this picture book, thank goodness). Basically, two little boys are on a man adventure through a jungle, and on each page they're getting into a big scrape and it's a hurry to turn the page and therefore get them out of it (or at least move on). In this way, the story picks up a frantic pace towards the end, which I can see being good fun with an older child (an it's Australian too, given the redbacks - beware of that page, arachnophobes). The pictures are lush, and they help tell the story. My only detracting comment (besides yet again male protagonists) is that the opening of the book doesn't make it entirely clear at first that we are "within" the book we're reading, so the first time it extols to turn the page to get out of trouble, I was a bit confused. Other than that, I like the ingenuity.

Master A's verdict: Turning pages faster was a good thing to avoid another chewing of a library book.

Day 88. Best of Friends is a pretty simple story. I'd go as far as to say it isn't really a story, just a series of statements. Wombat and Bandicoot are friends. They do stuff together. Sometimes they fight, but they always make up. There, now you don't need to read it. To be fair, there's a bit more information in the pictures than the words (but just a bit) and it's probably intended for early readers with simple, big, clear text. But as a book to share - or even to read, I hedge - it seems a bit of a yawn. Master A's dad read this one and declared he wouldn't be going back for a second go. I concur.

Day 87. Daddy Is My Hero is back in less whacky territory as books go ... well, sort of. As Master A's Dad said, it certainly makes dads look good - heroic I guess - fending off all manner of monsters, dragons, aliens and pirates, but this is definitely in a fantasy make-believe way, and that makes it sweet, despite the sometimes laboured rhymes, at least to my adult ears. The child of the story wasn't clearly male or female, which (based on some previous rants from me) is a good thing, I think. Overall I think it's a nice, short and sweet book to prime role playing and dress-up games.

Day 86. We're getting to the business end now, and I seem to be on a crop of the more left-of-middle books. Today's was The Midnight Feast, which after the fact I understand to be a sequel. No matter. This is, as Master A's dad described it, a flight of fancy which assumes that babies escape their houses every night to roam the streets and form gangs and have ... feasts. Though, initially, it looked like there was going to be some kind of baby turf war, Bloods and Crips style, (meeting of the two gangs pictured) and I was seriously worried about where it was all going. Fortunately, it becomes a good-natured food riot, and all the babies are still so full the next day, the protagonist doesn't want breakfast. In the scheme of things, this is really whacky. I'm not such a fan of the pictures myself, but they are expressive and there's plenty of onomatopoeic words, mostly related to jelly.

Master A's verdict: Very distracted today. No interest in jelly, it seems.

Day 85 was quite a schmozzle, so we're late with the book we read, Pirates Love Underpants. That's quite a statement, I thought, and the story is just whacky. Treasure map, pirate rivalry, a skirmish, all in the name of a moral to check that your underpant elastic is functional, lest you embarrass yourself. There's one page in the middle that reverses orientation (pictured) just to keep it interesting. The whole thing reminded me somewhat of Robert DeNiro's character in the movie of Stardust. In any case, it rhymed and had big bright illustrations. Lots of fun for everyone.

Day 84. I had a very different idea of what Dinosaur Rescue! would be about from the title. But it's actually dinosaurs being rescuers. And they're not anthropomorphised dinos either - it's a T-rex and a triceratops (etc) driving firetrucks and ambulances, rescuing people when there's a mishap at the old train tracks. This is madness, and will no doubt be awesome fun for fans of: dinosaurs, trucks, emergency services, sirens of any kind, and trains. Quite a ride. I can just imagine the acquisitions meeting when this one came up - yeah, it's like police rescue, but WITH DINOSAURS!

Master A's dad pointed out that one page broke the rhythm of the rhyme, but maybe it's there just to keep the parents on their toes ;)

Day 83. Tabby McTat ended up having far more text than I'd anticipated - which I blame on an especially fast library trip last time. Normally I check these things, and veto the extensive-texters for Master A's attention span. But no matter. For whatever reason, it was loved at this end, as Master A paid attention to all the pictures and "talked" along with it. It did seem epic to me as a picture book, but I'm not going to argue! And anyone who's fond of feline exploits will no doubt enjoy it.

Master A's verdict: Don't get me wrong, he did want to chew it, too, but in addition to enjoyment this time!

Day 82. Goodnight Moon is a book with an interesting history. It's a well-loved classic, purported to have hypnotic effects for putting children to sleep, and has a sad tale in the benefactor of the author's estate. Master A's dad read it while we all listened, and we both agree that getting the rhythm right, especially the first two pages, is tricky. I think, given the choice, I'd still go for Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site - it seems a bit more cohesive than Goodnight Moon. But for a story that's been around for 65 years, something must have long-range appeal.

Master A's verdict: No hypnotic effects here - have to try again when older.